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The long-run heterogeneous effects of a cholera pandemic on stature: Evidence from industrializing Japan

Kota Ogasawara and Tatsuki Inoue

Economics & Human Biology, 2021, vol. 41, issue C

Abstract: The recent COVID-19 pandemic poses the general question on how infectious diseases can persistently affect human health. A growing body of literature has found a significant amount of evidence on the long-term adverse effects of infectious diseases, such as influenza, typhoid fever, and yellow fever. However, we must be careful about the fact that little is known about the long-term consequences of the acute diarrheal disease pandemic cholera – Vibrio cholerae bacillus – which still threatens the health of the population in many developing countries. To bridge this gap in the body of knowledge, we utilized unique census-based data on army height at age 20 in early 20th-century Japan, with a difference-in-differences estimation strategy using regional variation in the intensity of cholera pandemics. We found that early-life exposure to a cholera pandemic had heterogeneous stunting effects on the final height of men; the magnitude of the stunting effects increased as the intensity of exposure increased.

Keywords: Pandemic cholera; Final height; Long-run effect; Heterogeneous treatment effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 I18 I19 N35 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:41:y:2021:i:c:s1570677x20302380

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100968

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